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Dublin captured their tenth National Football League title and their first since 1993 when they edged out Tyrone 0-18 to 0-17 in a thrilling decider at Croke Park.

A crowd of 33,134 witnessed a game which was as thrilling as a championship encounter with the sides level nine times before Dublin showed great character to win a dramatic finish.

Jack McCaffrey ended shooting the decisive point in stoppage time, but the hero of those closing minutes was substitute Dean Rock who shot a superb equaliser from the left three minutes from time and then edged the Dubs in front in the final minute.

Sean Cavanagh gave Tyrone hope with a point in stoppage time after McCaffrey’s effort was deflected over the bar by goalkeeper Niall Morgan.

Morgan ended up being man of the match — having ended up his side’s top scorer when he landed 0-5 from placed balls with a superb display from striking from distance.

Tyrone showed a late change when Stephen O’Neill was withdrawn without explanation and it was Dublin who started superbly, racing into a 0-4 to 0-1 lead after eleven minutes with Diarmuid Connolly impressive at centre-forward.

But Tyrone are masters are making the most of minimal possession with Conor McAliskey, Matthew Donnelly and goalkeeper Morgan finding the range.

The tempo of the game continued to increase and while Dublin picked off three points in success, their problems in midfield continued and Tyrone came storming back and they drew level at 0-10 each just before the break when McAliskey got his second point.

A Morgan point from a 45 four minutes after the restart edged Tyrone in front for the first time in the game but the superb Paul Mannion got the third of his four points to level.

That trend continued for the remainder of the game as Dublin battled to avoid becoming the fourth Leinster side to lose a league final this weekend.

Each time it was Tyrone who edged in front with Dublin equalising — Dubs goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton was not to be outdone by his opposite number and hit a long range free — with Martin Penrose’s 66th minute free being cancelled when Rock hit his superb leveler before edging the Dubs in front for the first time in the second half a minute from time before Jack McCaffrey put two between.

And Dublin were crowned champions when all Tyrone could manage was a fourth point of the contest from Sean Cavanagh.